# Books of the Kingdoms > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Books_of_the_Kingdoms > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Books_of_the_Kingdoms.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Kingdoms > Source revision: 1355216908 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Four books of the Septuagint}} The '''Books of the Kingdoms''', '''Books of Kingdoms''', or '''Books of Reigns''' ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Βíβλοι Βασιλειῶν}}) are the names that four books of the [Hebrew Bible](/source/Hebrew_Bible) are given in the [Septuagint](/source/Septuagint). 1 and 2 Kingdoms are equivalent to 1 and 2 [Samuel](/source/Books_of_Samuel), and 3 and 4 Kingdoms are equivalent to 1 and 2 [Kings](/source/Books_of_Kings) in most modern English versions. These books are known in the [Vulgate](/source/Vulgate) version as the four Books of the Kingdoms ({{lang|la|Libri Regnum}} or {{lang|la|Regnorum}}),{{Cite book|last=Lange|first=John Peter|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/CommentaryOnTheHolyScripturesCriticalDoctrinalAndHomilectical.Lange/05.ComHScrip.CritDocHom.OT.v5.Sam.I.II.Lange.Schaff.1877.#page/n13/mode/2up|title=Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal and Homilectical.|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1877|editor-last=Schaff|editor-first=Philip|volume=5: The books of Samuel.|publication-place=New York|pages=1–2|chapter=Introduction.; §2. Division.|quote=Our Hebrew editions of the Bible follow [the Seventy](/source/Septuagint) in dividing the Hebrew book of Samuel into two parts; they (the LXX.) did not, however, name these two books after Samuel, but included them with the two books of Kings, {{lang|he|מְלָכִים}}, under the common name "Books of the Kingdoms," {{lang|grc-x-koine|Βíβλοι Βασιλειῶν}}. After the example of the Septuagint we find in the Greek Church-fathers and also in the ''Vulgate'' and the Latin Church-fathers, this division of the books of Samuel and Kings as ''one'' historical work into ''four'' books cited as the four {{lang|grc-x-koine|Βíβλοι Βασιλειῶν}}, {{lang|la|libri regnum}} or {{lang|la|regnorum}}. This way of combining, dividing, and naming, in which our "Books of Samuel" are numbered as {{lang|grc-x-koine|Βασιλειῶν πρώτη}}, {{lang|grc-x-koine|δευτɛ́ρα}} "First, Second Kings" (comp. [Origen](/source/Origen) in [Euseb.](/source/Eusebius) ''[H.E.](/source/Church_History_(Eusebius))'' 6. 25, and Jerome, ''[Prol. Gal.](/source/Prologus_Galeatus)'') corresponds certainly to the general contents of these four, or more precisely two, books, so far as it consists chiefly of the history of the kingdom in the Old Testament covenant-people, and appears as a connected whole in the continuous narrative from Samuel's birth to the time of the Babylonian Exile.|author-link=Johann Peter Lange}} or the Book of Kings ({{lang|la|Liber Regum}}) as Jerome disagreed with the expression ''Books of the Kingdoms'' ({{lang|la|Libri Regnorum}}) of the [LXX](/source/LXX).{{Cite book|last=Canellis|first=Aline|title=Jérôme : Préfaces aux livres de la Bible|date=2017|publisher=[Éditions du Cerf](/source/%C3%89ditions_du_Cerf)|isbn=978-2-204-12618-2|series=Sources Chrétiennes|location=Abbeville|page=126, 322, 328-329|language=fr|chapter=Préfaces : Préface de saint Jérôme sur le livre des Rois|issue=592}}{{Cite web|title=A letter from Jerome (390-404) {{!}} Epistolae|url=https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/287.html|access-date=2020-10-16|website=epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu}} [Jerome](/source/Jerome) says: {{quote|Third comes Samuel, which we call the first and second Kings. Fourth [Malachim](/source/wiktionary%3A%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9D), that is contained in the third and fourth books of Kings. It is much better to say Malachim, of kings, than Malachoth, of kingdoms. For it does not describe the kingdoms of many peoples but of one Israelite people which included twelve tribes.}} Those books are known as the ''Books of Reigns'' in the [New English Translation of the Septuagint](/source/New_English_Translation_of_the_Septuagint).{{Cite book|title=[New English Translation of the Septuagint](/source/New_English_Translation_of_the_Septuagint)|page=244|translator-last=Taylor|translator-first=Bernard A.|chapter=The Old Greek Text of Reigns|chapter-url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/09-1reigns-nets.pdf}} ==Names and numbering== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;" |+ Names of the four Books of the Kingdoms across textual traditions ! [Septuagint](/source/Septuagint) book"Reigns" is the rendering used in the [New English Translation of the Septuagint](/source/New_English_Translation_of_the_Septuagint) (NETS); the Septuagint grouped Samuel and Kings as four "Books of the Kingdoms" ({{lang|grc|Βασιλειῶν}}). See {{cite book |last=Tsumura |first=David |title=The First Book of Samuel |series=The New International Commentary on the Old Testament |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |year=2007 |pages=1–2}}. ! Greek ! Hebrew BibleSamuel and Kings were each originally a single book in the Hebrew canon; the division into two appears in Hebrew manuscripts only from the fifteenth century and was popularized through [Daniel Bomberg](/source/Daniel_Bomberg)'s Rabbinic Bibles of 1516–17 and 1524–25. See {{cite book |last=McCarter |first=P. Kyle Jr. |title=I Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary |series=Anchor Yale Bible |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |page=3}}. ! Latin [Vulgate](/source/Vulgate)The four-book division using "Kings" (Regum) naming was canonized by the [Council of Trent](/source/Council_of_Trent) in 1546 ("quatuor Regum") and carried forward in the [Sixto-Clementine Vulgate](/source/Sixto-Clementine_Vulgate) of 1592; the [Nova Vulgata](/source/Nova_Vulgata) (1979) returned to the Hebrew naming, splitting Samuelis from Regum. See {{cite book |last=Cogan |first=Mordechai |title=I Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary |series=Anchor Yale Bible |location=New Haven; London |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |page=84}}. ! [Douay–Rheims Bible](/source/Douay%E2%80%93Rheims_Bible) (1610) ! Modern English Bibles (Protestant and Catholic) |- | 1 Kingdoms (1 Reigns) | {{lang|grc|Βασιλειῶν Αʹ}} | 1 Samuel ({{lang|hbo|שְׁמוּאֵל א}}) | 1 Regum ([Clementine](/source/Sixto-Clementine_Vulgate)); 1 Samuelis ([Nova Vulgata](/source/Nova_Vulgata)) | 1 Kings | 1 Samuel |- | 2 Kingdoms (2 Reigns) | {{lang|grc|Βασιλειῶν Βʹ}} | 2 Samuel ({{lang|hbo|שְׁמוּאֵל ב}}) | 2 Regum (Clementine); 2 Samuelis (Nova Vulgata) | 2 Kings | 2 Samuel |- | 3 Kingdoms (3 Reigns) | {{lang|grc|Βασιλειῶν Γʹ}} | 1 Kings ({{lang|hbo|מְלָכִים א}}) | 3 Regum (Clementine); 1 Regum (Nova Vulgata) | 3 Kings | 1 Kings |- | 4 Kingdoms (4 Reigns) | {{lang|grc|Βασιλειῶν Δʹ}} | 2 Kings ({{lang|hbo|מְלָכִים ב}}) | 4 Regum (Clementine); 2 Regum (Nova Vulgata) | 4 Kings | 2 Kings |} == References == {{reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.beblia.com/pages/main.aspx?Language=GreekModernFPB&Book=9&Chapter=1 Full text of the Books of the Kingdoms in modern Greek] {{First Book of Samuel}} {{Second Book of Samuel}} {{First Book of Kings}} {{Second Book of Kings}} Category:Books of Kings Category:Books of Samuel --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Books of the Kingdoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Kingdoms) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Kingdoms?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.